Fed up with negative stories about young people in the media, Young People Now magazine decided to take action.

Young People Now launched a campaign to encourage fair representation of Britain's youth in the media. Now in its fourth year, the awards celebrated positive media portrayals of young people.


Members of the media, young people and youth organisations were invited to submit examples of their work, demonstrating how they contribute to the aims of positive images. Voice 21 were nominated in the best young persons magazine category along with 11 other publications from across the country, and back in May we received the good news that we had won. This is a great achievement for Voice 21 and involved members of the team travelling down to London to receive this award.

The awards ceremony was held at Portcullis House in Westminster, London, in June this year. For many of us it was our first experience of the nation’s capital city, so we planned to make the most of our day out.

Soon after we arrived we decided to visit some tourist attractions such as the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, London Eye, Downing Street, St James Park and many more. We also had our first experience of the busy London underground and we saw first hand how fast paced the city was. Then the time came for us to make our way to the government building in Westminster and attend the awards ceremony.

Positive Images Awards

The awards ceremony was presented by Ravi Chandiramani (the editor of Children and Young People Now). He said “Young people in this country continue to get horrendously unfair press. The state of knife crime attacks over the past year has served only to exacerbate the British media’s stereotyping of young people as feral youths. Quite often, it’s easy, lazy journalism that prevails. Positive Images not only allows for fair representations of young people to be showcased and to triumph over the negativity and abuse.”

This year, the awards were split into nine categories, recognising positive media including local and national newspapers, youth magazines, radio stations and television. Ravi welcomed everyone to the awards ceremony and introduced the judges who in turn presented each category winner. Richard Turner (Chief Executive of the British Council) was more than happy to present Voice 21 with the award for ‘Best magazine produced by young people for young people’ (pictured left). Richard said “Voice 21 has an excellent mix of real life and celebrity stories. It is very readable but also covers some serious issues in depth.”

To end the awards presentation, Ed Miliband, Minister of the Cabinet Office (pictured above) spoke a few words and praised the efforts of all winners and said “We have to change the image of young people in this country. It is the responsibility of politicians and the media.”

After the ceremony we chatted to a few of the other winners and learned more about their amazing achievements. You couldn’t help but be inspired by their work, some of which was very powerful, and this just goes to show the quality of work that young people can produce if they have the support of others and are first of all given the chance. We then quickly took a few more photos to remember the day and with the spare time we had after the presentations, we decided to do a bit more site seeing and finish off by doing some shopping in Harrods. This ended a great day for us, and a great day in the history of Voice 21 magazine, plus the experience in London was one not to forget.


Positive Images award winners

BEST PUBLICITY CAMPAIGN BY
A YOUTH GROUP
WINNER: UK Youth Parliament - Are You Getting It? (the campaign for sex and relationships education in schools)

BEST LOCAL PRESS COVERAGE
OF YOUNG PEOPLE
WINNER: Scarborough Evening News
What the judges said: Chris Heaume: “This paper contains a stunning range of positive images, everything from sport to volunteering, and lots to encourage young people to get involved in activities.”

BEST TELEVISION COVERAGE OF
YOUNG PEOPLE
WINNER: The Baby Borrowers
What the judges said: Francis Haffner: “The Baby Borrowers is really educational and shows what really happens when young people are given the responsibility of having a baby.”

BEST INVOLVEMENT BY A YOUNG
PERSON IN PROMOTING POSITIVE MEDIA PORTRAYAL
WINNER: Amienata Sillah
Amienata Sillah’s knife crime DVD stood out because of its hard-hitting message and realism. After Amienata’s friend Kiyan Prince was stabbed to death, she decided to do something about it.

BEST NATIONAL PRESS
COVERAGE OF YOUNG PEOPLE
WINNER: Sugar magazine
What the judges said: Tracie-Trimmer Platman: “Sugar provides really great coverage of hard-hitting issues and lots of positive images of young women.”

BEST RADIO COVERAGE OF YOUNG PEOPLE
WINNER: Wired radio show
What the judges said: Chris Heaume: “This really is young person-led. The content is good and covers a wide range of issues facing young people, from social to educational, with a balance of anecdotal and expert views.”

BEST BROADCAST PRODUCED BY YOUNG PEOPLE FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
WINNER: Safestop from Film It!
What the judges said: Terry Ryall: “I really liked Safestop because it showed young people talking about the good parts of their lives. It said we are the same as everyone else, and we have the same hopes. A great rap and a great portrayal of spirit and optimism.”

BEST INTERACTIVE MEDIA PRODUCED BY YOUNG PEOPLE FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
WINNER: G2K
The G2K website is designed for young people in care by young people in care and boasts both a public site and a private login area for young people. The site aims to answer all the questions a young person might have about being looked after.